Contents

Blurb

Catching a sweet scent on the breeze, Ash and Pikachu follow their noses to a nearby apple orchard. As Misty and Brock follow, they warn the trainer and his Pokémon against eating apples that don't belong to them. No sooner is this said than Pikachu is caught red-handed with couple of cores! Once Ash proves Pikachu's innocence to the orchard owner, he and Pikachu track down the real thieves, a band of hungry Pichu forced into the orchard due to low amounts of wild growing fruit. Find out how Ash and Pikachu teach them teamwork and help create a symbiotic relationship between the Pichu and the proprietor!

Plot

As Ash and his friends continues on their journey, a wonderful smell leads them to an apple orchard. Ash and Pikachu head over and Brock and Misty follow. Pikachu notices that something is eating the apples and watches as the cores fall to the ground. Brock and Misty think Pikachu is the culprit but he denies it and points up. Everyone else looks up but sees nothing; meanwhile Pikachu catches a falling apple and gets trapped in a net.

The orchard owner, Charmaine, arrives believing that she finally caught the apple thieves that have been plaguing her. Ash denies that Pikachu is guilty, but Charmaine doesn’t believe him since Pikachu is holding one of the apples and the apple has bite marks in it. To prove his Pokémon's innocence, Ash has Pikachu open his mouth and it is revealed that the bite marks on the apple could not have been made by Pikachu due to the shape; they’re too small. Charmaine agrees and apologizes for accusing Pikachu.

Later, Charmaine treats the entire group to a meal. They discuss the fact that it must be difficult for one person to tend to the orchard alone. They offer to help but she declines the offer. However, Brock insists. Soon, everyone has baskets on their back. Charmaine shows the trio that she has strung up noise alarms to keep Pidgey from stealing the apples. Despite this, her apples are still disappearing.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is hiding in the bushes and Meowth uses a grabbing tool to steal an apple. While the three of them are fighting, a little paw grabs the apple from Meowth and then hands them the empty core. Jessie and James accuse Meowth of eating the apple. They then see a Pichu running off-- it jumps on one of the noisemakers. Jessie, James, and Meowth then flee to avoid being caught.

The others hear the noise and go to investigate. Meanwhile, three Pichu run off with some apples. As the little Pokémon flee, one of them drops an apple with the same kind of bite marks in it as the one that landed in Pikachu's arms earlier. Pikachu tracks down the Pichu and scolds them and then a high-pitched cry is heard. Pikachu discovers a bunch of other Pichu in the bush and that they are under attack by a Fearow. The Trainers find them as the Fearow swoops down. The three bravest of the Pichu jump onto a nearby tree and manage to zap the Fearow. However, they faint after using their attack due to their lack of skill in storing electricity. To make things worse, it was only enough power to stun the vicious bird Pokémon and the Fearow soon recovers. The remaining frightened Pichu huddle up as the Fearow continues to swoop down on them. Fortunately, Pikachu comes to the rescue and drives the Fearow off. It is then revealed why the Pichu are stealing the apples-- there is not enough wild fruit in the forest for the Pichu to eat. Thus the hungry Pokémon were attracted to Charmaine's orchard.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is trying to figure out how to get the apples. While they are discussing this, a nearby flock of Pidgey swoops down to help themselves to the fruit. However, Pikachu directs the Pichu to defend the orchard. They shock the Pidgey and then jump on the remaining ones and attack them with electricity. This drives the Pidgey off but the Pichu are now exhausted. Charmaine is impressed and once the Pichu recover, Pikachu and Ash continue to train them to help around the orchard in exchange for the apples they have eaten. They start gathering apples and putting them in a box for harvest. Charmaine realizes that she can now be more efficient in her work now that she has the Pichu to help her. After a bit, Charmaine lets the Pichu take a break and treats them to some apple slices.

While everyone is enjoying their break, Team Rocket appears. Ash sends Pikachu after them but Meowth operates a gadget that pulls Pikachu towards a tube and leeches his electricity to power their battery. Pikachu faints, and Team Rocket proceeds to steal the apples with the machine.

The Pichu use ThunderShock on the balloon and although this stuns Team Rocket briefly, it isn't enough and they soon become fatigued and Meowth puts the machine in reverse to blow the Pichu away. However, the Pichu refuse to give up and the group watches in amazement as the Pichu continue their efforts to defend the orchard. Although the air blowing from the machine is strong, the Pichu form a chain until they finally manage to reach Pikachu. The one on the end grabs Pikachu's foot and they all send an electric current up to revive the Pokémon.

Once revived, Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and the attack, combined with that of the Pichu, causes Team Rocket's machine to overload. The Meowth Balloon is destroyed and Team Rocket is sent flying. As the Pokémon celebrate their victory the humans go over to congratulate them on a job well done. Charmaine has decided that she and the Pichu will be partners from now on. In exchange for protecting the orchard, Charmaine will let them have all the fruit they want.

After saying goodbye to Charmaine and the Pichu, Ash and his friends continue on their journey.

Trivia

The English title is a reference to the homophonous nature of "corps" and "core", though it is misspelled as "corp". Also, the title is similar to Apple Corps, which is pronounced apple core, which was a company owned by The Beatles.